Finance minister issues order in response to North Korean money-laundering fears
OTTAWA — Canadian financial institutions have been ordered to treat what few transactions they conduct with North Korea with even greater diligence as the federal government tries to increase pressure on the nuclear-armed nation.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau quietly issued the directive last month following concerns that the North Korean government was skirting international sanctions through money laundering and other illicit financial activity.
The number of financial transactions between Canada and North Korea is extremely small because of those sanctions, which the federal government imposed in August 2011.
But financial institutions will now have to treat even those few that are allowed — including remittances worth less than $1,000 and humanitarian aid — as potential cases of money laundering and report them to the government.